Opinion
1:21-CV-01972
02-11-2022
KEITH NEFF, Plaintiff, v. U.S. BANK, et al., Defendants.
ORDER
Susan E. Schwab, United States Magistrate Judge.
Plaintiff Keith Neff began this action by filing a complaint, but he did not pay the filing fee or file an application to proceed in forma pauperis. By an Order dated November 23, 2021, the Clerk of Court ordered Neff to either pay the filing fee or to file an application to proceed in forma pauperis within 30 days. On December 20, 2021, Neff filed a document titled as an amended complaint to which he attached as an exhibit an application for leave to proceed in forma pauperis. We directed the Clerk of Court to separately docket that application for leave to proceed in forma pauperis.
Neff stated in his application for leave to proceed in forma pauperis that, among other income and assets, he has $14,800 on a Reliacard. See doc. 6 at 2, ¶ 4. Based on this and concluding that he has sufficient funds to pay the filing fee in this case, we denied Neff's application for leave to proceed in forma pauperis and ordered him to pay the filing fee.
Neff has not paid the filing fee. But he has filed a document in which he states, among other things, that he does not have access to the funds on the Reliacard. See doc. 8 at 4, ¶ 4. Considering this and looking back at Neff's complaint, we now see that Neff's claim is that he was denied access to this $14,800. See doc. 1 at 4-5. Accordingly, we will vacate the order denying Neff's application to proceed in forma pauperis, and we will, in fact, grant his application to proceed in forma pauperis.
Based on the foregoing, IT IS ORDERED that the Order of January 6, 2022 (doc. 5) denying Neff's application for leave to proceed in forma pauperis is VACATED. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Neff's application (doc. 4) for leave to proceed in forma pauperis is GRANTED.
By a separate order, we granted Neff leave to file an amended complaint.